the help and direct intervention of one or more of them on the field, or the opening of their maritime ports, as Britain had promised to do for the South. This would have been done but for the great uprising of the common people of Britain in our favor. These Southern soldiers passed through this terrible war with a courage that never failed, with so much of valor and heroic sacrifice. They fought for their cause with so much of honor and credit to the American character, that the few bad examples should be forgiven for the general good. The lives and health of half a million Southern soldiers, ninety-eight per cent of whom were so poor as never to have been able to own a slave, were one of the last, but very costly, items of payment for the extinction of slavery. It was a bad system that differed little from other bad ones left, one that took poor men's lives by the million to make a few greedy men rich.

When President Lincoln struck slavery its mortal blow, the armies of the Union sustained him, generally in hearty response and approval. In Grant's army of the Tennessee it was received and agreed to in the ordinary way without comment against it. It had worked up to the conclusion that slavery was doomed to certain destruction, and its members conducted themselves accordingly. General Grant and Commodore Foote let this idea develop without interference, so that when freedom was proclaimed, there was nothing to reverse. They had not permitted slave-hunting in their commands. On the contrary, they employed slaves, colored people, by thousands in laborious operations on the rivers, fleets, camps, and fortifications. These they protected, and surrendered none who were searched for as fugitives; hence what was a great change some places, was a development of their policy. This was soon followed by Negro enlistments up and down the big river.

In Buell's army of the Cumberland it was received and approved with more or less rejoicing, because the men be

lieved it was right; further, the removal of Buell appeared more certain. By this time he was so generally disliked by the entire army, that his usefulness, whatever it might have been, had certainly passed. He had been given command to begin with, not by reason of brave or gallant service, but because he was selected by and represented the frosted conservatism at the head of the army. Although so favored, through jealousy or envy on the part of one or both, Buell had a serious difference with Halleck at the time, when both were twisted out of joint by the proclamation. Halleck, in the merciless spirit of envious men and fossilized in lazy methods of war, could dispute and hate better than agree and fight the enemy. Hence in his worst distress he deserted Buell, and helped in his removal, finally his retirement, where he became one of the soured victims of the slave-worshipers he had served so long. He had issued slave-hunting orders like Halleck; but fugitive searching in his army was seldom tolerated; so Halleck's and Buell's orders burned themselves out, and went to the Rebellion record of relics, with all that was left of the slave-catching business, when the "uniformity" President Lincoln desired was substituted in the conduct of the war, and suddenly obeyed.

In the army of the Potomac the proclamation was respected and sustained, as all orders of the President were, willingly or not by its "great soldiers and organizers" at the very top of it; but this was feeble and formal alongside the hearty welcome and indorsement it received from the warworn and over-tramped veterans, who said, "God bless you, President Lincoln; and God bless you freedmen; come and join us, and help win your freedom." Soon afterwards colored brigades filled out the lines, and the lights and shadows of that mighty, fighting army, their valor and achievements, are beyond the telling. This was about the first of our armies to come under the chilling influences of slavery conservatism; about the last to be entirely relieved of it. But the relief

came when General Grant rose to the certain leadership of a soldier that President Lincoln had reached his statesmanship and the broad strategy of war.

In the fall of 1862 I had a talk with Governor Yates, in which he spoke of a friendly interview he had recently had with President Lincoln about the war, and among other things about what he thought of General Pope's campaign in Virginia. Both of them were friends of Pope, who was an Illinois man. The President regretted Pope's discomfiture all the more because he had selected him and given him command with the hearty indorsement of the governor. He said: "However, General Pope gave us good and valiant service. He hit Lee a terrible blow with half as many men, where twice as many were ready to help. The slow maneuvering that balked us at the top was our chief obstacle, for our soldiers, God bless them! never falter, whether they march and fight with the commander that suits them, or with one whom they could better lead themselves. The soldier who is to lead this strong army of heroic men, with its splendid organization and almost perfect equipment, must rise in it and have the full confidence and cordial support of all its parts; or he must rise to undisputed leadership in some other of our armies, where of himself he can inspire the confidence that leads to victory. My eyes are open for the coming man; but if no better appears in time and the emergency exists, I will go myself and lead."

By his great act of emancipating four million slaves, President Lincoln rose to the broad and wise statesmanship that saved our Nation in its territory and integrity at home, as well in the wider grasp of the world's affairs. It brought us the valuable help of our friends in Britain and elsewhere, against the clandestine war of two or more hostile British administrations, and the smaller plottings and the invasion of Mexico by Europe's sneaking wizard of destruction. Henceforward the issues were made up and declared, to our

content and to that of mankind. It was no longer to be a war for a slave empire on the one side, and a patched-out slave Republic on the other. The armies of the Union were stripped clean of their conservative hinderments, and marched forward in the greater campaigns of the conflict.

President Lincoln had reached high leadership in as wise statesmanship among the people and our armies ere this. Afterwards it became an undisputed control, grounded on his own and the righteous judgment of our people. He knew and understood that he was master-man and leader, as God made him, and that in his wisdom and conduct the issues of the great conflict depended. He was not in this presumptive, never obtrusive, and never assumed or appeared as dictator. He was always considerate, mild, and yielding to the point where he could yield no more; but in principles and choice of men to lead, when he had reached his determination, he was resolute, firm, and solid as the serf-beaten rock.

Here we rest. Here he stood before all men, as he did with and among the great leaders and statesmen of his Administration and his time, to whom he announced his forthcoming proclamation of freedom as follows: "When the rebel army was at Frederick, I determined, as soon as it should be driven out of Maryland, to issue a proclamation such as I thought most likely to be useful. I said nothing to any one; but I made the promise to myself-and to my Maker. The rebel army is now driven out, and I am going to fulfill that promise. I have got you together to hear what I have written down. I do not wish your advice about the main matter, for that I have determined for myself. This I say without intending anything but respect for any one of you."

He was great and strong, and prevailed. He knew his gifts well. He prepared himself in every way open to his advancement, and forged ahead with the honest zeal of a reformer. He surmounted every obstacle, laid aside every minor and selfish consideration, every temporary or seeming

advantage, that he might the more certainly strike the underlying evil and carry on his work against it with all his strength. He was so profoundly and devoutly impressed with his duty, so faithful and persevering in it, and waited so patiently his declared interpretation and its exact fulfillment, that these proved him to be no less than God's prophet.

He was unswayed by disappointment, defeat, or seeming disaster. He was on the unpopular side, and the under one, for more than twenty-five years, and was usually defeated with his party. But he took his defeat complacently, without murmur or a word about being neglected. In God's time he came to leadership, when he rose steadily in work that proved him the best friend of men for more than eighteen centuries. He carried our Nation through the greatest conflict of modern times, sealing it a victory forever, in his complete triumph over every contention, his patriotic service, his sacrifice, his exaltation and return to his Maker when the great labor of his life was done.

Most of the world's great reformers have wrought out their work through similar conflicts. Christ said, "I came not to send peace, but a sword." (Matt. x, 34.) By this he did not mean to declare that his gospel of peace should be preached, propagated, or carried into the hearts of men by forcible means; but, knowing well the greedy and murderous spirit of disobedient and despotic men, he knew that the civil and religious rights of his people would need to be gained and protected by the strong arm of law and "the sword."

Luther was protected in his civil rights by the powerful Elector of Saxony and his allies, a sort of Confederated Germany. In that time, if any one of the German States had been seriously threatened, all of them would have united, as they did afterwards against the political aggression of the popes, the decaying power of Charles V, and his more cruel son, Philip II. However, Luther endured a long and angry